


A Not-So-Perfect Valentine's

by glitchly



Category: THE iDOLM@STER, THE iDOLM@STER: SideM
Genre: I love them ok, Jun honestly isn't even there until the latter half of the fic, M/M, also there's like 5 seconds of chocolate preference wars so, but oh well, pierre is here too, references to WT07, there's like 2 swear words so warning for that I guess, this was basically my excuse to write HxJ being dumbasses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-15
Updated: 2019-02-15
Packaged: 2019-10-28 21:54:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17795435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glitchly/pseuds/glitchly
Summary: Natsuki is determined to make this the Valentine's where he finally confesses his love to Jun, but he just can't figure out how to approach it. The other members of HighxJoker decide to help him out, but one small problem soon threatens their grand plan.





	A Not-So-Perfect Valentine's

**Author's Note:**

> This is an entire day late but I'd rather it be late than not done at all lol (besides I've seen people celebrate birthdays like a whole month late, I think this is on the tamer side of lateness tbh)
> 
> Me? Writing NatsuJun for Valentine's? What a shocker  
> Also this is my first time writing Pierre so gomenesorry if he's ooc; not to mention writing his speech was a god damn nightmare asdfghjkl
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

A quiet hum filled the cabin of the plane; the view of the city below was a breathtaking sight, filling the night sky with its bright lights.

If Natsuki had to guess, they were probably only an hour or so away from home. He was looking forward to it more than he could ever put into words. Sure, Finland had been a nice place to visit. The lovely locals, the beautiful scenery, not to mention the miraculous aurora that had showed up midway through the live show. It was all one of the most unforgettable experiences that he had ever witnessed, but even if that was so, he was looking forward to finally returning to Japan, to seeing his friends and unitmates again. After all, by the time he'd be back home, it'd only be a mere day or so away from a rather famous day.

Valentine's Day.

It was approaching fast, maybe a little too fast for Natsuki's liking. Yes, he had decided a while ago that this was most certainly the year where he would actually do something for Valentine's Day, but he'd been so preoccupied with the trip abroad that he hadn't had any time to decide on what he'd do exactly.

This was it. This was definitely going to be the year where he finally did the unthinkable, where he finally confessed his love for a certain someone. He'd been putting this off for years, and he'd been telling himself excuse after excuse as to why he had been delaying this for so long. He was done with delaying it, the only problem was that he didn't know exactly how to approach it. He was determined to make sure he did at least something this Valentine's Day, but what exactly?

That was the question he asked himself as he stared down the notepad in front of him, which he had intended to fill with different ideas and suggestions, yet he found himself staring down a pretty-much-empty piece of paper, filled with (at best) maybe 3 or 4 suggestions, half of which he'd crossed out after giving them a bit too much thought. Natsuki was unsure of what to do, and at this rate he probably wouldn't have anything prepared by the time Valentine's Day rolled around. It seemed like he was stuck in some hopeless rut.

"Natsuki, what this?" The curious voice of the boy sat next to him piped up, "Natsuki seems worried! Is something wrong?"  
"Ah, it's nothing bad, don't worry..." Natsuki assured Pierre with a soft smile, somewhat thankful for something to take his mind off this problem, "I'm just...trying to figure something out, is all..."  
"Maybe, can help!" Pierre suggested, a wide grin on his face as he spoke, "What's troubling, Natsuki?"  
"Oh, um...well, you see..." Natsuki spoke quietly, mainly just to try and stall for time as he tried to figure out what to say.

He wasn't really sure if Pierre was the type of person to understand stuff like this, nor if he would actually be able to help. Pierre was only a couple of years younger than him, but he was also a pretty innocent person, and the way others spoke to him gave Natsuki the impression that he was probably a bit more on the oblivious side of things. However, he figured that even if Pierre wouldn't be able to help, it'd be rude to ignore him. Besides, maybe he'd find himself pleasantly surprised by a Pierre who was actually pretty good with things like love and Valentine's?

"I'm just...trying to figure out my plans for, um...Valentine's Day..." He explained quietly, even though his default volume was practically a whisper, he still didn't want to risk anyone else overhearing him; his voice was so quiet that Pierre practically had to lean in close just to understand him.  
"Oh, Valentine's Day! What does Natsuki have planned?" Pierre asked, trying to match Natsuki's whispering tone, "Is surprise? Does Natsuki have a date?"  
"Well...a surprise, yes..." He nodded; technically he wasn't lying, as whatever he was going to end up planning was currently a surprise even to himself, "But...no, I don't...I don't have a date, not yet, at least..."  
"Not yet?" Pierre repeated, tilting his head to the side in confusion, "No date, but planning one? Natsuki, confessing love to someone?"  
"Y-Yeah..." Natsuki took a breath of relief, it seemed he misinterpreted how oblivious Pierre could be-

"Who?" Pierre asked, his innocent eyes sparkling as he asked, "Natsuki's Valentine's is who?"

And that was the question he had hoped to not be asked.

"Well, um...it's...it's someone, who's pretty important to me..." Natsuki tried to explain, his voice growing quieter and quieter as he spoke, eventually trailing off into an incomprehensible mutter as he struggled to get the words out.  
"Someone in HighxJoker, surely?" Pierre asked, having leaned in closer and closer as Natsuki had gotten quieter, "Am I right?"

All Natsuki could respond with was a subtle nod. Pierre retaliated by slowly but surely listing off the names of everyone in HighxJoker, and watching on as Natsuki shook his head in response to every name, save for the last one that was mentioned in a hushed tone, Pierre had practically whispered it straight into Natsuki's ear with how closely he had leaned in.

"Jun?" Pierre blinked, reiterating it again, "Natsuki's Valentine's is Jun?"  
"Y-Yeah, hopefully..." Natsuki sighed, "That is, if he says yes, so..."  
"Jun makes Natsuki smile, right?" Pierre asked, "Natsuki, happy when he sees Jun, and Jun happy when he sees Natsuki?"  
"Yeah, exactly..." He nodded, a warm smile coming across his face, "That's why I...really want things to go well...on Valentine's Day...that's why I need to plan something perfect."  
"Hmmm...well, I think Jun will appreciate Natsuki's efforts, no matter what!" Pierre grinned, resting a hand on Natsuki's shoulder reassuringly, "If Jun makes Natsuki smile, then Natsuki should be able to make Jun smile just the same! Even if Natsuki's plan not perfect, it make Jun happy, right?"  
"Hopefully...hopefully you're right, Pierre." He answered after a short pause, and looked at Pierre with an awkward yet genuine smile, "Thank you, I really could use the encouragement..."  
"Not problem!" Pierre replied, "Natsuki plan something amazing when back home! I just know it!"

With one more nod, Natsuki thanked the youngster for the support, before glancing back over at his notepad. Surely, he just needed to give it a bit more thought, and the perfect answer would come to him, right?

After all, he still had a day or so to organise everything once he was back. A day would most certainly be enough time to figure something out, even if it was super rushed. As Pierre said, the thought was what counted here, after all.

Right?

* * *

 

One day before Valentine's. It was midday, and Natsuki could practically feel the clocks racing forward bit by bit. Even though he'd been up since morning, he still absolutely nothing done. He didn't know what it was, but there was something that just made it impossible for him to write even a single thing down.

When the plane had touched down and Natsuki finally found himself back in Japan, he'd had an idea whilst looking through the pages of scribbled-out notes. He came up with something that was probably good, but before he'd had much time to develop it, he'd been jumped on out of nowhere by none other than Shiki, who was soon followed by Haruna, then Hayato, and then finally Jun, who had to tear the other three away from Natsuki before he suffocated underneath their collective embrace. Even if he'd been tired and jetlagged, he still found himself answering the barrage of questions his unitmates had for him as they led him out the airport, and he appreciated the fact that they had decided to all stay up until 2AM just to meet him as he arrived home (something the group had also tried to do for Haruna and Jun when they went abroad, but on both occasions Shiki had gotten the wrong flight time; waiting at the airport for a Jun who had already been home for 2 hours was one of the group's lesser proud moments).

But now that he was back home, and had a bit of time to himself, he could work on that idea he'd had. To put it simply, it was a love letter. Natsuki had to admit that he was never good with spoken words, and one thing that kept plaguing him was the fact that he was afraid he'd mess up a love confession by saying the wrong thing, or not saying anything at all, or that he wouldn't have enough time to practice before tomorrow. But with a written letter, those worries were put to rest. No chance of messing up words that were already written down, after all.

Or at least that's what he thought.

As Natsuki stared down an empty page, he found himself looking at something that was suspiciously looking more and more like the notebook that he'd been scribbling in on the plane. A half-empty page, filled only with crossed-out lines and ideas for sentences that he'd really love to put in the letter at some point. He'd lost count of the amount of times that he'd started on the letter, only to then cross out the entire first paragraph and find himself back at square one. Starting from the end and working his way up didn't seem to work either, and he wasn't getting any other inspiration if he tried to start from the middle as well. He was stuck in the same position he'd been in the previous day, completely stumped on how to write this damned love letter. He didn't know what to do, and he was one more failed attempt away from giving up and deciding that maybe he wasn't really ready for this just yet. If he could get any inspiration, any at all, that'd be good enough for him.

Almost as if on-cue, he heard the familiar ring of his phone, sat only a few inches from one of many crumpled-up drafts that were lying on the desk. As he opened the phone, he saw it was just a simple message from Shiki, for some reason. It wasn't even a message to the HighxJoker group-chat (which had lovingly been titled "The People's Republic of Shiki Iseya" after a series of jokes that Natsuki had only half paid attention to), for some reason Shiki had privately messaged Natsuki just one simple message.

_Hey, ya awake rn??_

Physically, the answer to that was a yes. Mentally, Natsuki felt like he hadn't slept ever since that 10-hour-long flight. He texted back a simple, basic response.

_Yes._

_Why?_

A few seconds passed. Natsuki watched as his messages' status went from 'sent' to 'delivered' to 'read'. Usually, Shiki would respond scarily fast after reading a message, but this time he didn't seem to be in any rush to respond. Natsuki couldn't tell if this was concerning, or if he was just focusing on it too hard as some sort of distraction from the failing love letters. Either way, this was probably just nothing more than Shiki wanting to see if anyone wanted to hang out-

"Natsukichii!" With a loud thud, the door to Natsuki's door swung open, causing the poor boy to fall from his chair in shock, "Have you thought through your super duper ultimate plan yet, or do you need some help?"  
"M-My what...?" Natsuki coughed the words out, not moving from his new spot on the floor as a trio of familiar faces approached him.  
"Your super cool plan to ask out Junchii!" Shiki specified, staring down at the floored Natsuki with a twinkle in his eyes, "When I first heard about it, I thought to myself 'holy crap, Natsukichii will totally think it's super cool and awesome and great if I help him out!', so then I asked Hayatochii and Harunachii and-"  
"How did you guys get into my house?" Natsuki asked, his words being drowned out by Shiki's rambling.  
"Oh, one of the windows downstairs was open." Haruna commented casually, trying to lick some donut powder off of his hand.  
"Harunachii climbed through and opened the door for us." Shiki announced with a smile, "Now I know what you're thinking, Natsukichii!"  
"Why didn't you guys just call me and ask to be let in?" Natsuki said, half in response to Shiki and half as a genuine question.  
"Wrong!" Shiki folded his arms, talking with a smug grin, "Right now, you're thinking to yourself: 'Oh Shiki, even though it's mega super hyper max cool of you to offer your services, you didn't need to do this for me, you're too kind!' And your answer to that is that you are right to think such a thing, thank you!"

Before Natsuki could respond to that nonsense, someone with a bit more common sense decided to speak up, offering a hand to help Natsuki get up from the floor.  
"What Shiki means is that we wanna know if you need any help." Hayato explained, pulling Natsuki back onto his feet, "When Shiki told us you were up to something, we just wanted to know what it was! As our friend, you can't leave us out of the loop."

Actually, that bought up a good question. If this was Shiki's idea, then that means he somehow caught wind of what was going on, which meant...

"Shiki, how did you know I had something planned?" Natsuki asked, turning to face the boy that still had an excited spark in his eyes, "The only person I told was Pierre, and..."  
"Oh, Pierrechii told me!" Shiki shrugged, and then immediately moved on, "Anyways, so what's this big plan of yours, Natsukichii? Pierrechii ran off before I could ask for more details."

The thoughts that raced through Natsuki's heads were mostly horribly pessimistic. If Pierre was going around telling people about his Valentine's plans, that meant there was always the possibility that Jun would end up finding out before tomorrow, and that would ruin the entire-

"Oh, but don't let him know that you know that I know." Shiki added, "I think he blurted it out on accident."  
"Don't worry, we won't tell anyone." Haruna mentioned, "After all, it'd ruin the surprise."

Or maybe everything wasn't so ruined, and he was overthinking things.

"Anyway, answer the question." Haruna spoke, his words slightly muffled underneath the donut he was eating, "We wanna know what the big deal is."  
"Um...it's honestly..." Natsuki found himself awkwardly looking over at the desk which was littered with failed attempt after failed attempt to try and write, "It's...not, actually...working too well..."  
"Aha! So this is the moment where you need our mega cool hyper help, right?" Shiki asked, darting past Natsuki to get a look at the messy desk, "What's with all the paper? You trying to write something?"  
"Yeah...I was, just...trying to write my feelings down, was all..." He explained with a shy nod, "I figured a letter would be best, but...I can't figure out what to write..."  
"Don't worry, that's just your nerves talking!" Hayato tried to sound cheerful as he spoke, "You are your own biggest critic, after all. You're probably just being too hard on yourself-"  
"Hey, we could write it for you!" Shiki interrupted, reading through a now-uncrumpled letter, "You've got some sweet stuff written down, you just need a bit of help with stringing it all together is all!"  
"R-Really?" Natsuki asked, seeming at least somewhat hopeful now, "You guys would be willing to help?"  
"Sure thing!" Shiki grabbed a nearby pen, and immediately began scribbling something on the closest sheet of blank paper he could find, "Hayatochii, Harunachii, get over here and help me!"

'Finally', Natsuki thought, 'Maybe I can give Jun something worthy this Valentine's after all...'

Natsuki watched on as the trio began to fight over the apparently-precious piece of paper, each of them writing down their own thing, squabbling over who was using the pen next. Natsuki admittedly wasn't as involved in the whole process as he would've liked to be, but that was mainly because it was hard to get a glimpse of the work-in-progress without being shoved away and being told that he wasn't allowed to peak at his own love letter, for some reason. He simply watched on and prayed that these three could put together something, anything, that was better than the things he'd written in the past few hours. After a few minutes of rambling and chatter among the boys, they seemed to be ready to show Natsuki their masterpiece.

"Alright, Natsukichii! How's this?" Shiki asked, a proud look on his face as he shoved the paper into Natsuki's arms, "We used all your other letters as a base, so it should be mega cool and perfect!"  
Usually, Shiki being proud of something was a fearful thing, but just this once, Natsuki decided to have a little faith in him as he took a glance at the letter.

_Dear Jun, ~~chii~~ ,_

_Today's Valentine's Day!!!_  
_~~We've?~~ ~~I've?~~ I've known you for [insert number here natsuki] years now, but this is gonna be the best year, because I super duper mega max hyper lov you!!! You mean soooooo much to me, and your pian playing is the best!! ٩(≧▽≦)۶ I absolutely love being in HighxJoker with you, but now I wanna be absolutely in love with being with you!! Please go out with me! ☆⌒ヽ(*'､^*) _

_Love from,_  
_Your boy, Natsuki_

The crude overuse of exclamation points. The fact that piano wasn't even spelled correctly. The utter desperation conveyed in the last line, not to mention the fact that the entire paper was covered in donut powder and random doodles that were most certainy done by Shiki. There was no way Natsuki would even ironically contemplate handing such a piece over to Jun, he couldn't even be paid to.

However, as he looked up, he saw that the boys before him seemed to be looking at him as though asking for approval, as though they'd written the best love letter in the entire world. Although Natsuki had no intention of ever allowing this letter to see the light of day, he could at least play down his disappointment a little.

"Um...it's great, but..." Natsuki started quietly, his voice trembling slightly.  
"But...?" Haruna prompted him to finish the sentence, as Shiki started to look crushed by the upcoming rejection.  
"Well, it's a good letter, but, well..." After a slight pause, Natsuki sighed, "It's just, clearly not written by me...you know?"  
"Ah shit, that's a problem..." Haruna mumbled, "We can try again if you want?"  
"Yeah, we'll throw a whole bunch of awkward pauses and dots in it!" Shiki interjected, "We'll make it a little less energetic!"  
"I-I'm good, I think..." Natsuki shook his head, ignoring Shiki's painfully honest comment, "I appreciate the help guys, but..."

He gently rest the paper down on the desk, and found himself sighing yet again. He still only had one day to organise something for Jun, and his motivation to get said something done was dwindling more and more. Maybe this was a sign that he wasn't ready yet, some sort of heaven-sent signal that this wouldn't end well no matter what.

"Ok, suggestion!" Haruna spoke up, wrapping an arm around Natsuki's shoulder in support, "Look, no one writes letters anymore, they're outdated anyways."  
"What, do you expect me to tell Jun that I love him via email?" Natsuki asked in deadpan sarcasm, barely even glancing at Haruna.  
"Hell no, what I'm suggesting is that you do something grand!" Haruna suggested, dramatically gesturing with his free arm, "Something that's just really out there, and catches Jun's attention, you hear?"  
"Huh? L-Like what?" Natsuki asked, simultaneously intrigued and dreading whatever Haruna was going to suggest next.  
"Maybe a song or something!" Hayato said, resting a hand on Natsuki's back, "He'd like that, right?"  
"Oooh, if Natsukichii writes a song, Junchii would love it!!" Shiki practically leaped over to Natsuki's side, getting way too close to his face as he stared him in the eyes, "It can be a super cute and cool Valentine's song, from you to Junchii!"

That wasn't exactly a bad idea. It seemed perfect, it was exactly the type of thing that a person like Jun would love. Natsuki was starting to curse himself for not having thought of it himself, admittedly. Sure, he only had a single day to try and compose literally an entire song, but if the others helped him out, he could probably come up with something short yet beautiful...maybe.

It wasn't long before the boys began to grab more pens and papers, all crowding around Natsuki to try and help him with writing out the sheet music, and giving him suggestions on what type of tone to go for. In spite of the fact that Natsuki was the only person in the room who knew literally anything about playing the violin, it seemed like everyone was trying their best to help him out with his efforts, and it seemed as though Natsuki finally had it all figured out. This was it, this was going to be his oh-so-perfect plan to win over Jun, and he was, for the first time in ages, confident that he would finally be able to confess those feelings that he'd been keeping to himself for so long. Even if he'd have to stay up all night to get the composition done, and even if it'd end up rushed and a bit on the shorter side of things, he'd get it done.

It would be the most perfect gift he could ever give.

There was just one tiny, small problem with such a plan.

"You left the violin at home????" The three all exclaimed in weirdly perfect unison.  
"I...I stayed up all night writing! I overslept, I had to rush to get here on-time!" Natsuki nervously explained, his gaze fixated on the floor, "I-I...I forgot to grab the violin when I was on my way out..."

The feared day had crept up a lot quicker than Natsuki had ever expected it to. It was already the 14th, and here he had gone and thrown a wrench in his own plan. He'd even arrived at the office an hour or so earlier than he usually did, just to get everything prepared. Hell, technically speaking, the office wasn't even open yet, and the only reason the four of them were able to get in was because Ken was forgetful enough to have accidentally left the front door unlocked. The only member of HighxJoker who wasn't there yet was Jun; it seemed as though Natsuki now had an hour or so to try and get a back-up plan prepared.

"It'll be fine, it'll be fine!" Haruna nervously tried to comfort Natsuki, "Hey, we have an hour, right? Do you think that's enough time to go home and grab it?"  
"What, you think Natsuki can get on a train, head to his house, get another train back here and arrive at the office within an hour??" Hayato asked, sounding completely baffled with Haruna's attempts to be reassuring.  
"Ok, I now see the flaw in my idea." Haruna nodded to himself, folding his arms, "Well, where's Rei? He usually has a violin on him, Natsuki could borrow it, right?"  
"Reichii's schedule doesn't require him to come in for another 2 hours!" Shiki pointed out, frowning, "I don't think he could get here in time anyways, even if I put my hands together and pretty-pretty-please begged him to!"

"Damn it...ok, ok, don't worry, Natsuki..." Haruna began pacing back and forth, rubbing his temple in stress as he tried to think, "We have an hour to think of something. It's not gonna be pretty, and it's totally gonna be rushed, but we can think of something."  
"I-I don't wanna give Jun something rushed!" Natsuki whined, his head turning from side to side as he watched Haruna pace, "He deserves something really...nice and thoughtful."  
"Should've thought about that before you messed up the entire plan, Natsuki." Haruna said a little too casually, "Alright, alright...Hayato, Shiki, you two see if there's any stores nearby that are open, and try buy anything cool or sappy or generally Valentines-ish."  
"Got it!" Shiki nodded, over-dramatically saluting.  
"On it, but what are you gonna do, Haruna?" Hayato asked as Shiki practically began to push him out of the door.  
"I don't know!" Haruna admitted confidently, "But I'll think of something!"

"Don't worry Natsukichii, your Valentine's saviours are here for you!" Shiki announced from the doorway, before slamming the door shut behind him.  
"What he said, Natsuki!" Haruna stopped pacing for a moment to pat Natsuki's head in a supposedly-reassuring way, "We promise, Jun's gonna be head over heels for you by the time we finish whatever it is we're planning!"  
"You're too confident..." Natsuki sighed, "But I appreciate it anyways."  
"You're welcome!" Haruna grabbed Natsuki by the wrist, before leading him out the room, "C'mon, we don't have any time to waste!"

* * *

 

There were only 5 minutes to go. Only 5 sweet, short, terrifying minutes until the doors to 315Pro opened, which would also double as the moment when Jun would most certainly arrive, given how punctual he was. It was in these short minutes that Hayato and Shiki finally barreled into one of the practice rooms, carrying several bags worth of random supplies in their arms, exhausted and out of breath.

"Ok, we got a ton of decorations!" Hayato panted the words out, practically collapsing against the nearby wall as he talked, "We were thinking we could just decorate the ever-living hell out of the lobby or something."  
"Yeah, and I got these!" Shiki announced, holding a bouquet of flowers in the air as though it was some sort of precious artifact, "Natsukichii, you can-wait, Natsukichii, what are you wearing?"

Before Shiki stood a Natsuki not wearing the casual clothes he had arrived at the office in, but wearing a rather stylish, if a little bit over-the-top, tuxedo suit that had clearly been retrieved from a random costume cupboard somewhere in the office, as evidenced by the fact that Haruna was fervently trying to smooth out all the creases and crumples that lined the jacket, which admittedly looked a bit big on Natsuki. It was a tuxedo that one of the other idols, most likely one of the adults, had worn at some point and then forgotten about.

"This was Haruna's idea." Natsuki explained blankly, "He figured it'd make me look...in his words, 'impressive and super cool'."  
"Well he's right!" Shiki smiled, giving the boy a thumbs-up of approval, "You look super awesome, Natsukichii! Junchii's gonna think you look mega hyper handsome in that outfit!"  
"Do you guys think I can style his hair in 5 minutes?" Haruna asked absentmindedly, trying to fold in the sleeves of the jacket so it didn't look as obviously over-sized as it was, "Like, I wanna slick it back or something cool like that, but I don't think hair gel can set in in 5 minutes."  
"I-I'm asking Jun to date me, not marry me!" Natsuki pointed out, a tiny bit of panic in his voice, "I know we agreed on doing something grand, but...this is all so over-the-top..."

"I bet Junchii will find it cute, don't worry!" Shiki grinned, throwing the flower bouquet into Natsuki's arms, "But now that you bring it up, when are you two gonna get married?? And who's gonna walk you down the aisle, Natsukichii? Actually, would it be you or Junchii who goes down the aisle??"  
"Jun, naturally." Haruna commented as he finished the final adjustments of the jacket sleeve, "And as the oldest in the group, I get to be the one to give him away."  
"But I wanna give him away!" Shiki whined, frowning.  
"You can be Natsuki's best man." Haruna shrugged in response.  
"Nice!" Shiki's frown immediately returned to a smile upon hearing that, "I'll-"  
"Wait, what does that make me?" Hayato interrupted, finally joining in on the ludicrous conversation, "I wanna have an important role too!"  
"You can be the ring-bearer." After a brief pause to think, Shiki patted Hayato's shoulder, "Just don't cry too much when you hand the rings over."  
"I don't cry that often!" Hayato protested, pointing an accusatory finger at Shiki, "Besides, the ring-bearer is usually a child, so shouldn't you be the ring-bearer? You're the youngest-"  
"Me and Jun aren't even dating yet and you're already planning our wedding??" Natsuki interrupted, looking somewhat nauseous from a mix of nerves and general frustration from how easy it was to sidetrack his companions.

"Natsuki makes a point." Haruna said, a hand on either of Shiki and Hayato's shoulders.  
With a sigh of relief, Natsuki spoke up, "Thank you, Haru-"  
"We shouldn't plan the wedding until after they get together." Haruna finished the sentence with a devilish grin, "Now, let's go decorate the lobby!"  
"Alright!" Hayato nodded, grabbing the shopping bags he'd dropped out of exhaustion, "Let's hope no one else is in there right now..."  
"Huh?" Natsuki blinked, "I thought we were the only ones here?"  
"Well, when me and Shiki got back, the front door was wide open..." Hayato pointed out, rummaging through one of the bags.  
"Yeah, someone's probably here early, just like us!" Shiki suggested, "After all, we're not the only ones celebrating Valentine's Day!"

"True...Oh yeah, Natsuki, I bought chocolate, but I don't know what type Jun likes so..." Hayato's sentence trailed off as he held up a trio of brightly-covered boxes, "White, milk or dark?"  
"He prefers dark." Natsuki nodded, admiring the boxes.  
"Ew, I'm sorry you have to put up with that." Hayato grimaced as he handed one of the boxes over to a confused-looking Natsuki.  
"There's nothing wrong with dark chocolate..." Natsuki huffed, taking the box with a frown.  
"Oh my God, don't you dare tell me you prefer dark chocolate too, Natsuki." Haruna said, looking borderline disgusted at the idea, "Dark chocolate is an abomination."

Before Natsuki could argue back, he felt Shiki forcefully grabbing his arm, pulling him out of the room as the group left the practice room, Haruna and Hayato bouncing comments back and forth about their mutual hatred of dark chocolate, alongside one or two comments about how they'd decorate the lobby to look like some kind of overly-sappy Valentine's nightmare. It was a simple walk down the stairs before they found themselves opening the door, walking into a lobby that not even the Producer or Ken had stepped inside of today, hoping to find it empty.

They hoped wrong.

With a look of curiosity, Shiki let go of Natsuki's arm and headed over to the step-ladder that had a certain idol perched on top of it, holding onto a bunch of red streamers and heart-shaped balloons. It seemed as though someone had already decided to beat the members of HighxJoker to the punch.

"Pierrechii?" Shiki asked, looking up at the wall that Pierre had covered in various tacky decorations, "Are you organising something for Kyouji and Minori...?"  
"Ah!" Pierre yelped, quickly turning to face Shiki with a shocked look, "Shiki! I didn't think anyone else here! W-What's Shiki doing-"  
As Pierre talked, his gaze went over to the other members of the group, who all seemed just as perplexed as Shiki over why Pierre of all people was here so early. When Pierre's gaze met a certain person, his expression quickly turned panicked, and he found himself scurrying down the step-ladder to run over to that certain person's side.

"Natsuki! You can't be here right now!" Pierre spoke hurriedly, "Surprise, ruined if Natsuki stays!"  
"Huh? What surprise?" Hayato asked, looking over at the confused Natsuki, and then Pierre, "Why can't Natsuki be here?"  
"Because, there's surprise!" Pierre forcibly grabbed Natsuki's arm, as if to beg him to listen, "If the surprise ruined, there's no happy smiles!"  
"Wait, wait, wait!" Shiki spoke up, "Pierrechii, what surprise-"

Before Shiki could even finish his sentence, a voice sounded out from the doorway. The boys in the room all turned to the door, startled at how familiar the voice sounded, and even more startled when they saw what was stood before them.  
"Natsuki?" Was the only word that came out of Jun's mouth.

The group all watched on in complete and utter stunned silence, as Jun Fuyumi, the noble pianist of the band, appeared before them, wearing an ill-fitting tuxedo, holding a fresh bouquet of flowers, and staring down the half-decorated room and surprised unitmates before him.

"W-What's going on here??" Haruna asked, his mouth hanging open in shock, "Why is Jun dressed like that?? Why is he here?? What the-"  
"Ahhhh!" Pierre frantically rushed over to Natsuki, and attempted fruitlessly to cover his eyes, "Natsuki saw it! The surprise, ruined!!"  
"Wait, wait, wait, wait, WAIT!" Shiki sounded more and more confused with each 'wait', "Pierrechii, did you bring Junchii here??"  
"Y-Yeah!" Pierre whimpered, the stress in his expression was genuine as he lamented, "Natsuki told me about Valentine's plans, b-but he didn't know what plans were yet! So, I thought, it be easier for Natsuki if Jun made first move! I ask Jun, and he liked Natsuki too, so I..."  
"What????" Hayato dropped the bags he was holding in shock, "S-So you...you got here early to try and decorate the place for Jun's confession??"  
"Yes, exactly!" Pierre nodded, taking his hands away from Natsuki's face, "I thought nice decorations would make Natsuki and Jun smile, make everything bit more romancetic!"  
"But...that was _OUR_ plan!" Haruna pointed out, sounding horrified to find this all out, "We put Natsuki in a suit, buy cool decorations, engineer a sappy love confession scenario, and you already did the exact same with Jun?? Great, we look like idiots now!"  
"Ahh, I don't think Haruna or Shiki or Hayato are idiots!" Pierre tried to reassure them, "I-I didn't know Natsuki had help too!"  
"Harunachii, you think we look stupid, but just think about Natsukichii and Junchii! They probably feel ridiculous right now!" Shiki pointed out, before looking over at the two, "Hey Junchii, Natsukii, are you two ok?"

After Shiki said that, a silence fell over the room. All eyes seemed fixated on the two that this had all been organised for, watching on with bated breath.

It took a moment for either of them to register everything, from the amazing chance of this all happening to the fact that they were both blushing messes. It took a few more moments for one of them to finally break the ice.

"I...this is sort of awkward, huh..." Jun tried to downplay just how terrifyingly nervous he was with a few laughs, his gaze shifting between Natsuki and the bouquet he was holding, "Pierre built up this really...well, admittedly sorta embarrassing idea that this would all be really dramatic and romantic, and that you'd be all surprised, but happy, and...ah, but I suppose you were probably thinking something similar, right?"  
"W-Well, I'd be lying if I said no to that..." Natsuki admitted with a soft laugh or two, "But...I guess I'm still kinda surprised, and I guess this is sort of dramatic, right? I mean, I wish this had been a bit smoother...I was kinda worried this wasn't enough, then I was worried it was all too much, and now I'm not really sure, but...d-does the sentiment at least count?"  
"Of course! I'll admit, when Pierre put forward the idea of..." Jun quickly glanced at the over-sized suit he was wearing, and sighed as he raised a hand that was covered by his jacket's sleeve, "...all of this, I kinda thought it'd be too over-the-top...at first I wanted to do something like a piano piece, but then I worried if it would be a good enough present, so..."  
"A-Ah, I kinda tried to do the same!" Natsuki admitted nervously, "I was fully prepared to play you a song, but...well, I'm just gonna say it didn't work out well..."  
"Really?" A small smile crept upon Jun's face, but this one seemed more out of awkward happiness than nervousness, "I would've loved to hear it! Oh, not that I don't appreciate whatever's going on here, that is..."  
"And I would've loved to hear you play piano!" Natsuki explained; it seemed almost like there was a sparkle in his eyes as he spoke, "I-I could play you the song I wrote later, if you'd like..."

Following that, there was more painfully awkward silence, as neither of them really knew what to say. It didn't help that they had four of their friends gawking at them from only a few feet away, and that neither of the two really had any experience with anything like this. They both knew what they wanted to say, but actually being in one another's presence made it hard to get any of the words out. When they finally opened their mouths, they only found themselves speaking over one another.

"Do you-"  
"Will you-"  
"A-Ah, sorry..."  
"No, it's fine, I'm sorry I interrupted..."

Another pause, and a small exchange of glances between the two of them led to yet another failed attempt to speak up.

"You look amaz-"  
"You look great in-"  
"S-Sorry, I didn't catch that..."  
"Ah, uh, please, say what you were gonna say..."  
"Um...w-well...I-"

"Oh my God, can you two just get to the 'I love you' bit already??" Haruna finally interrupted, physically unable to bare this anymore, "You both like each other, stop being awkward about it!"  
"Yeah, I believe in you!" Pierre smiled, trying to be a bit more positive about this than Haruna was, "You can say it!"

Jun and Natsuki took a moment to stare down the crowd in front of them before turning to one another again, both of them completely red out of a combination of flustered feelings and lowkey annoyance over being interrupted. Trying their best to ignore the ensemble surrounding them, they both took in a deep breath, and found themselves looking one another in the eyes. In what was almost perfect unison, they both finally said the precious words on their mind.

"I love you."

Just like how they said those words together, they both found themselves smiling together, and even laughing a little over how awkwardly sweet this whole situation was.  
"I-It feels so weird to actually say it out loud..." Jun admitted, his complexion still red as he looked at Natsuki, "I-I kinda wanna hug you, but it looks like your hands are full, so..."  
"Huh?" Natsuki blinked, before it hit him that he was still holding the bouquet and chocolates that his unitmates had forced into his arms earlier.

With barely any hesitation, however, Natsuki quickly found himself throwing both the bouquet and the box over his shoulder, not really caring for where they landed, just so he could hold his arms out for Jun to nervously run into. As soon as their arms wrapped around one another, they heard the sound of cheering nearby, and even a whistle or two as the people around them began to celebrate. If the two were being honest, the cheering was a little bit of a mood-killer, but they also kind of expected it, considering who they were dealing with.

"Natsukichii, Junchii, can we start planning the wedding now?" Shiki asked, running over to the couple, the previously-tossed bouquet in his hands, "Do you have any preference over things like venues? How many guests? Or are you two more the eloping kind?"  
"If you two elope, you still have to bring us with!" Haruna pointed out as he walked over, "You're not allowed to forget your friends just cuz you're in a relationship now!"  
"Y-Y-You two a-a-are per...per...perfect together!!" Hayato choked the words out between sobs, happy tears streaming down his face, "I-I-I'm happy for y-you!"  
"Natsuki, Jun, look so happy!" Pierre beamed, joining the group that had gathered, "Surprise wasn't ruined! Better surprise happened instead!"

"Yeah, I guess you could say that." Jun nodded in response to Pierre, trying to ignore whatever had come out of Shiki and Haruna's mouths, "I suppose we have you four to thank for setting this all up, so...thank you, everyone."  
"You're welcome, Junchii!" Shiki grinned, "You see, we were actually working together with Pierrechii the entire time to organise-"  
"No you weren't." Natsuki said point-blankly, staring down Shiki.  
"Yeah, you're right, we weren't." Shiki frowned, "But could you imagine if we were? That'd be the mega hyper coolest thing ever!"  
"Shiki, we can work together on wedding!" Pierre announced, "That sound good?"  
"Hell yeah, Pierrechii!" Shiki nodded in agreement, clutching the bouquet close.

With a sigh of part relief and part exasperation over Shiki's nonsense talk, Jun turned to Natsuki, who still seemed to be blushing.  
"Can you really believe we were set up by those four, of all people?" Jun asked, arms tightly wrapped around Natsuki.  
"I know it's ridiculous, but we have them to thank for this, so..." Natsuki shrugged, all his attention focused solely on Jun, completely ignoring whatever foolishness the other four were talking about, "...Happy Valentine's Day, Jun."  
"And a very happy Valentine's Day to you to, Natsuki." Jun smiled, leaning in close, pressing his lips against Natsuki's, and trying his best to blank out the borderline screaming that his friends erupted into as he did so.

It may not have exactly been the most well-planned Valentine's, nor did most of it go the way they wanted it to. But to them, it was still one of the most perfect Valentine's they could've shared together.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope you liked this fic as much as I liked writing it! <3


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